The present invention is closely related to and represents an improvement over our prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,579. That patent is directed to an improved mechanism, for attachment to a conventional industrial sewing machine, for feeding oriented buttons to a sewing station for securement to a garment. The mechanism of our prior patent is arranged to be mounted on a conventional sewing machine and to be mechanically actuated by a cam mechanism driven from the sewing machine drive, enabling the auxiliary mechanism to be actuated through a predetermined series of steps involved in the button feeding and orienting operation.
In accordance with the present invention, the button feeding and oriented system of our prior patent is improved and made more simple and economical by incorporating an improved form of actuating system for the button feeder, which is pneumatically, instead of mechanically actuated. By utilizing the new form of pneumatic actuation, instead of a mechanical association with the sewing machine, not only is the mechanism itself simplified, but its attachment to and incorporation with the sewing machine is rendered much more simple and economical. In this respect, it is contemplated that, while the button feeding and orienting mechanism will be in the nature of a permanent or semi-permanent attachment to the sewing machine, important savings in the equipment cost may be realized by minimizing the modifications required to be made to an otherwise standard commercial sewing machine in order to accept the button mechanism.
In accordance with one particularly advantageous feature of the invention, the new button mechanism is arranged to be incorporated in a standard commercial sewing machine of a type provided in the first instance with a pair of controllably sequenced pneumatic cylinders, which are associated with the raising and lowering of the presser foot and the commencement and termination of the sewing cycle. The button feeding and orienting system of the present invention is so arranged and constructed that the pneumatic cylinders employed in the mechanism are actuated by, in effect, simply tapping off of the fluid chambers of the main air cylinders incorporated in the sewing equipment itself. Thus, as the primary sewing machine cylinders are pressurized and exhausted in the course of a cycle of sewing operations, the primary control pressures are utilized in a unique and advantageous manner to effect properly timed actuation of the button feeding and orienting mechanism. In this manner, a rather complex series of operations involved in the button feeding and orienting are accomplished and, in addition, are properly synchronized with the sewing cycle, in an extraordinarily simplified, economical and reliable manner.
In another form of the invention, adapted specifically for incorporation with a different form of commercial sewing machine, not provided with primary air actuators, a unique and highly simplified pneumatic valving arrangement, having a mechanically timed association with the sewing cycle, is provided for effecting the desired sequence of operations of the button feeding and orienting mechanism.
For a more complete understanding of the above and other features and advantages of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention, and to the accompanying drawing.